PHIL COLLINS
“Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)”
How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace
When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh
You’re the only one who really knew me at all
How can you just walk away from me,
When all I can do is watch you leave
Cause we’ve shared the laughter and the pain and even shared the tears
You’re the only one who really knew me at all
So take a look at me now, oh there’s just an empty space
And there’s nothing left here to remind me,
Just the memory of your face
Ooh take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space
And you coming back to me is against the odds and that’s what I’ve got to face
I wish I could just make you turn around,
Turn around and see me cry
There’s so much I need to say to you,
So many reasons why
You’re the only one who really knew me at all
So take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space
And there’s nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face
Now take a look at me now, cause there’s just an empty space
But to wait for you, is all I can do and that’s what I’ve got to face
Take a good look at me now, cause I’ll still be standing here
And you coming back to me is against all odds
It’s the chance I’ve gotta take
Take a look at me now
“Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” (also titled “Against All Odds”) is a song by English drummer, singer and songwriter Phil Collins. It was recorded for the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name. It is a power ballad in which its protagonist implores an ex-lover to “take a look at me now,” knowing that reconciliation is “against all odds,” but worth the gamble. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, the first of seven US No. 1’s for Collins in his solo career.[4] “Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)” also topped the charts in Canada, Ireland, and Norway, while peaking at No. 2 in the United Kingdom.
“Against All Odds” won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male in 1985, was nominated for Song of the Year and for an Academy Award as well as for a Golden Globe both in the Best Original Song categories. At the Academy Awards ceremony, Collins was not invited to sing his song on stage and instead sat in the audience as dancer Ann Reinking gave a mostly lip-synced vocal performance accompanied by a dance routine.
Reinking’s performance was poorly received by critics from the Los Angeles Times and People, as well as by Collins himself in a Rolling Stone interview.
When another song Collins performed for a movie, “Separate Lives”, was being nominated for an Academy Award, in interviews about the original snub by the academy for “Against All Odds”, Collins would jokingly say “the hell with him – I’m going up too”, referring to what he would do if the Stephen Bishop-written song were to win the award. Collins lost to the Stevie Wonder song “I Just Called to Say I Love You”.
Rapper RZA named “Against All Odds” as his favourite power ballad in an article on such songs in Spin.
The Guardian and American Songwriter both named “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” as Collins’ second-best solo song behind “In the Air Tonight”.
“Against All Odds” became Collins’ third top-ten single in the UK, peaking at #2 for three weeks in 1984. It was kept from the top spot by Lionel Richie’s “Hello” for the first of these three weeks, and Duran Duran’s “The Reflex” for the next two. It was ranked 14th in the year-end best-seller chart. In the U.S. and Canada, it peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and RPM charts for three weeks in the spring of 1984.[8] Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1984.
Music video
The single’s music video was directed by Taylor Hackford, produced by Jeffrey Abelson through Parallax Productions and cinematographed by Daniel Pearl.
Hackford was paid US$20,000 (out of a total budget of US$45,000) for a complete Collins clip. The music video was released in February 1984.
A No. 1 MTV video for several weeks, MTV ranked it No. 4 four in its 1984 year-end top 20 video countdown.
Gary LeMel, music supervisor at Columbia, felt the music video on MTV increased Against All Odds’ box office takings by at least US$5 million.
The concept for the video was created by Keith Williams, a Welsh-born writer who had already worked with Abelson on the video for “Dancin’ With Myself” (Billy Idol), and who would go on to also create concepts for “Holding Out for a Hero” (Bonnie Tyler) and “Ghostbusters” (Ray Parker Jr.) for the same producer as well as “Say You Say Me” (Lionel Richie) from White Nights, which Taylor Hackford also directed.
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